NATO forces kill up to 14 insurgents in Afghanistan

NATO troops and warplanes killed up to 14 insurgents while one of their own vehicles was destroyed after dozens of gunmen ambushed them in north-eastern Afghanistan, the force says.

An International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) convoy was attacked on Tuesday as it moved through the rugged Kamdesh area of Nuristan province, near the Pakistani border.

The soldiers then called in war planes to help them out against a force of about 30 rebels, Flight Lieutenant Euan Downie said.

"The initial battle damage assessment is that one ISAF vehicle was destroyed and between 10 and 14 insurgents were killed," he said.

He did not have a report of ISAF casualties.

A purported Taliban spokesman told the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency that the group had carried out the attack and killed 10 foreign troops.

Most of the Taliban's casualty claims are exaggerated.

Nuristan has this year seen an increase in insurgent attacks, especially in Kamdesh which is on the mountainous frontier.

The province is opposite the Chitral area of Pakistan, where some intelligence reports say Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden could be hiding out.

Pakistan denies such reports.

Afghan and ISAF troops killed around 24 more insurgents in another border region on Tuesday.

The nearly five-hour battle was in Paktia province that borders Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal district, where the Pakistani Government signed a truce with pro-Taliban militants last month.

"Twenty-four enemy were killed, their bodies were left at the site and we have carried them to our base," defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi said late Tuesday (local time).

He said Pakistan nationals and Chechens were among the dead.

Eight people were arrested, including three Pakistanis.

The Taliban insurgency, backed by other Islamist outfits, has been at its bloodiest this year, with nearly 3,000 people killed, most of them rebels.

The unrelenting violence is undermining Afghanistan's attempts to turn its back on 30 years of war and has led to a row between Islamabad and Kabul about the Taliban fighters allegedly trained and equipped in Pakistan.